|
1-8 of 8 messages
|
Page 1 of 1
|
|
RE: Naturalist
|
Reply
|
|
by Snake18 on January 16, 2007
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
As far as I know, naturalist = biologist. For this you have to go to college and get a degree in biology, zoology, animal science or whatever they call it... Afterwords, you culd get a job in a large variety of fields.
Best regards,
Alex
|
| |
|
RE: Naturalist
|
Reply
|
|
by Rob_Carmichael on January 16, 2007
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Feel free to drop me an email and pick my brain. Naturalists can mean many things to many people but traditionally, they are folks who interpret the environment such as those typically seen in a nature center setting. The Savanna River Ecology Lab in your neck of the woods has a pretty cool program.
I started my own wildlife center/museum 15 years ago which culminated a life long dream to have my own reptile zoo/nature center/museum/conservation education all wrapped into one. It took a ton of work, a lot of desire and motivation, sacrifices like you wouldn't believe, and perhaps most importantly, answer to prayer to see my dream realized. Now, I've got the best job/career anyone who loves herps could possibly have.
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
Lake Forest, IL
|
| |
|
RE: Naturalist
|
Reply
|
|
by Cro on January 16, 2007
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Kyle, both Alex and Rob have offered great suggestions.
Becoming a Naturalist can involve college study in the Biological, Ecological, Zoological, Wildlife Management, Forestry, and Enviornmental Sciences.
All of these fields are related, and all could offer you support in becoming a Naturalist. A Naturalist is someone who teaches the Natural Sciences, so a background in Teaching and Education would be important also.
But there are other ways to earn a living being a Naturalist besides getting a college degree. There are a lot of great Naturalists out there who have little formal education, but have a knowledge of the natural world, and the ability to entertain folks.
You live right next to the Okefenokee Swamp, and there are three different entrances to the swamp which might offer you Naturalist work. Have you thought about offering reptile shows at Steven C. Foster State Park or Laura S. Walker State Park? What about becoming a boat guide at Okefenokee Swamp Park or Camp Cornelia?
What about the DNR Educational Center at Fargo on the banks of the Suwannee? You live in an area with lots of opportunity for work educating the public as a Naturalist, and all of these areas offer entry level jobs dealing with Wildlife and Natural History.
If you are able to study the Biological Sciences at a college level, that would be a great way to go. But, if you do not want to do that, there are also other ways in the area you live that you could make a living teaching Natural History to the tourists who visit the Great Swamp.
Best Regards JohnZ
|
| |
|
RE: Naturalist
|
Reply
|
|
by earthguy on January 17, 2007
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
I consider myself a naturalist, and I get paid for it. THE naturalist in my neck of the woods is Rudy Mancke (he did Nature Scene on SCETV for a long time, and was the state museum curator of natural history, now he teaches Environmental Resource Management and Natural History at THE USC). In fact, I had a graduate course called re-inventing the naturalist (you might even say that my graduate focus was being a naturalist). Basically all you need to be anaturalist is a BROAD understanding of the NATURAL world. When you get to the point where you can understand the natural world well enough to share it with others, then you are a naturalist. Historically speaking, most of the great naturalists had jobs other than being a naturalist, nature was just their passion. A book that you may want to consider reading is South Carolina Naturalists: An Anthology, 1700-1860 (Hardcover)
by David Taylor (Editor). I still pick up my copy from time to time to brush up.
Oh yeah, one important area of Natural History that is often overlooked is geology.
|
| |
|
RE: Naturalist
|
Reply
|
|
by Snakeman1982 on January 17, 2007
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Kyle,
Being a naturalist is definitely something to strive for, obtaining an all encompassing knowledge, awareness, and appreciation of an ecosystem. I wouldn't necessarily call myself a naturalist as I am mostly interested in herps and maybe insects and birds. However, from a strictly academic definition of a naturalist (those organismal biologists that publish papers in the rhelm of natural history and ecology) there has become a trend that is disheartening. Naturalists are not being hired as often at Universities anymore. Less government funding to Universities has made many Universities only higher faculty whose research can bring in a lot of grant money. The granting organizations (NSF, NIH, etc...) don't put much money anymore into the natural sciences and now fund mostly cellular or molecular biology labs. These million dollar labs cost way more than an ecology lab and they are getting most of the funds. You can even see this trend in the larger publications. Look at the journal "Science". Most of the publications in it are molecular biology.
On top of that, many of these cellular and molecular faculty "rank" themselves against other professors with how much grant money they bring in. I have even heard some molecular/cell/physiology professors at various institutions say that natural history isn't even science. They don't seem to know their organisms or care about them. All they seem to care about is what research can get grant money and what can get published. Now not all cell/molecular/physiologists are like this and many are interested in knowing there organisms (I only know a few). But there is definitely a trend towards highering less "naturalists" for more machine driven lab research.
Now I am certainly not against cellular, molecular, or physiological biology as these fields have greatly advanced science. Just many of the grad students, professors, and granting agencies have highly down weighed the value of naturalists and that is completely wrong.
There are actually several scientific journal articles on the subject. So I just thought if anyone has their heart set to study ecology/natural history at a University they should know that. Hopefully this trend will change after funding organizations realize that this molecular band wagon isn't the newest and greatest thing but I am not too confident.
Robert
|
| |
|
RE: Naturalist
|
Reply
|
|
by earthguy on January 18, 2007
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Robert,
I know where you're coming from, brother. However, the naturalist is surviving at the community level through community colleges (no publish or perish mentality) and groups (like SCAN - South Carolina Association of Naturalists). I myself am heading up to the community college level (from high school) so maybe I can 'create' a few more naturalists. For a couple of years I thought that I was the last of a dying breed, but there are MANY EXCELLENT naturalists out there (I would only rank myself as 'intermediate'). If you are looking for a good Naturalist's Journal, try SE Naturalist.
|
| |
|
RE: Naturalist
|
Reply
|
|
by AquaHerp on January 18, 2007
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
S.W.A.N. (South Western Association of Naturalists) is another great organization to become affiliated with. (definitely if you dwell in the SW sector of the US)
Doug Hotle
General Curator
Abilene ZOOlogical Gardens
Abilene, Texas
|
| |
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this topic.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
Check our help page for help using
, or send questions, comments, or suggestions to the
Manager.
|
